I’m grateful it’s Friday. This week has been long and productive so I welcome the weekend to take a breather. I found some much needed time to plan our holiday campaigns, tighten our search optimization and reconnect with a college friend Kristy who works at Packaging Specialities. She helped me select the final gift wrap and gorgeous ribbon we’ll use on our gift wrap option - coming out soon in time for holiday gifting!

I love the planning. I especially love campaign planning. Setting sales goals, working on incentives and then determining how to use all of the marketing channels – social, email, blogging, search engine marketing, etc. to get the word out. I live by my “to do” lists. So Friday means I get to cross off and start rebuilding the new “to do” list for next week. And then let my mind rest and dream over the weekend.

In it, Stephanie Vozza writes about childhood dreams (for a while, my dream was to be a Hollywood star – really.) “Along the way, however, most dreams get derailed. It could be because we form new dreams or outgrow the idea. Often its because we’re told that our dreams aren’t realistic."

I recommend reading the article if you want some warm and fuzzy Friday inspiration too! But here are the crib notes and my quick commentary:

4 Habits of People Who Follow Their Dreams

They Don’t Take Rejection Personally - Okay, frickin' hard to do. I have my fair share of pity parties so I know personally it’s hard to pick yourself back off the mat. Over and over again. Stephen King got so many rejection letters, he would hang them from a nail. The nail was replaced with a spike after the nail couldn’t hold the weight.

They Make Their Own Opportunities - Steven Spielberg directed my favorite movie of all time, Raiders of the Lost Ark but I didn’t know he was rejected from USC film school THREE TIMES. So he squatted in an office at Universal Studios until they hired him. Seriously, read the article because depending on my mood, he could be considered ballsy or sort of nuts (likely both).

They Find an Advocate - My parents have been my advocates. When I first started talking about “the Hair Fairy idea” and transitioned in and out of a few career moves over 8 years, my mom would always say, “What about Hair Fairy?” Their support deserves its own blog post soon! But just gotta say it, HF wouldn’t be real without them

They Use Naysayers to Fuel Their Drive - I use to crumble when I got negative feedback at work. But age and maturity have transformed me from a self-doubter to someone with a good degree of self confidence and pretty thick skin. Whenever I was confronted with someone really negative or toxic, I would channel my dad’s wise (and somewhat crude) words, “F--- ‘em.” And then move on. I’ll wait till my kids are a little older to share this advice verbatim with them.

So happy Friday and as your day turns into the weekend, take some time to read the article and share your thoughts about being a dreamer!